Paul Rudd Cast as Scott Lang in Marvel’s ‘Ant-Man’ Movie [RE-UPDATED]

[UPDATE: Marvel has confirmed that Paul Rudd will play Ant-Man. Scroll for details.]

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Marvel Studios has proven it’s a force to be reckoned with, changing the game with its shared universe model, making a multi-million brand out of superhero movies, and breakout stars out of more than a few actors. But riskier waters lie ahead for the studio, with comic book properties that virtually no one outside of the fanboy community knows about (Guardians of the Galaxy) or cares about (Ant-Man).

But will the skepticism about Ant-Man change – now that we know that charm-king actor Paul Rudd is playing him?

The Wrapdropped the exclusive announcement of Rudd “being in talks” with Marvel Studios, but with months of speculation that Rudd was in competition for the role against Joseph Gordon-Levitt (who’s since moved on to Sandman) – as well as the noted (and observable) evidence of Rudd already looking more fit for the role, it’s a pretty safe bet that the actor WILL be signing on the dotted line to play Hank Pym.

Ant-Man has been in development for some time under the eye of The World’s End director Edgar Wright, who co-wrote the script with Attack the Block filmmaker Joe Cornish; Wright will also be directing the flick.

The skepticism about Ant-Man as a viable film property should be obvious; it’s about a superhero scientist who invents size-altering particles and technology that allows him to communicate with insects. That’s pretty silly even by comic book standards.

However, fans should be happy to learn that Hank Pym – one of the founding Avengers in the comic books – will indeed be the version of Ant-Man we’re getting. How Pym will be implemented into the Marvel movie universe remains to be seen – it could be a vastly different playing field by the time Ant-Man kicks off Phase 3 following the events of The Avengers: Age of Ultron in summer 2015 – and how much of his mythos is implemented also remains to be seen.

Will we also get Wasp? Will elements of other Ant-Man mantle holders like Scott Lang (a father) and/or Eric O’Grady (a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent) be melded with this version of Pym? It’s definitely possible (maybe even prudent) to have the best elements of all three Ant-Men combined into one quality movie character.

UPDATE: It’s official – Marvel has confirmed that Paul Rudd has been cast as Ant-Man. Here’s what Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige had to say about the casting decision:

“When Edgar Wright came to us with the idea of Paul Rudd, we felt a huge sense of relief because the first step in creating any Marvel Studios film is finding the right star. We knew early on that we had found the right person in Paul. When he not only agreed to do it but became as enthusiastic as any actor we’d ever met with about doing the work, we knew we’d found the right guy. We couldn’t be more excited for our audiences to see what he’s going to do to bring Ant-Man to life.”

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Thandrale 1 year ago

There have been a lot of successful movies about people shrinking. Incredible Shrinking man. incedible Shrinking woman Honey I shrunk the Kids, Fantastic voyage,Land of th Giants tv series. I think this has a good shot. I don’t think it will matter that it’s not a well known character. The idea its self will sell it.

My wallet is shrinking….darn this economy! But I will buy this one on DVD, I am sure (unless it gets ruined like the awful send-ups of Green Hornet and Dark Shadows). When is someone going to buy the rights to those two and do a serious flick on them, like the old original TV shows back in the 60s and 70s? Now that I would like to see!

Because it’s Disney/Marvel they’ll promote it good and they already have a built in fanbase,but I exspect it to make a decent amount around 54 million or so which isn’t too bad for a movie called Ant-Man.

From what little I know, I a fine with Rudd, but I’m interested in who is cast as the female lead. I hope that it’s not Rashida Jones.

“Ant-Man” does sound silly when one first hears it, but from reading a bit in the comics (Thor: The Mighty Avenger) and watching some of The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, I find myself excited to see Ant-Man and Wasp onscreen. They’re generally pretty appealing as characters, IMO.

Yes, “Iron Man” does sound a bit out there at first as well, like it is the Tin Woodsman or something to press your shirts with or a caddy handing out a golf club or something, but he is one of Marvels most powerful, iconic, and best heroes!

Good casting choice, but I’m still not looking forward to this movie. Ant-Man has practically nothing to offer now that Ultron is Stark’s. I’m betting it’ll be cool visually but I don’t think this is going to do well at the box office or be what long time fans were hoping for.

I think it would be cool if Ultron just looked like something Tony Stark would build and everyone assumed it was him so at the end of Avengers 2 when they’re saying something like “But if Stark didn’t build Ultron, who did?” And then Pym comes in behind them and says “That’s where I come in”

Yeah I’d like for them to do something like that but I just don’t see it happening. I’m hoping they’re just trying to cover the surprise intro of Pym (seeing as his movie comes out like 2 months after Avengers 2) but I’m not very optimistic.

Checked the web found this
After three days of working, Jan came in begging him to rethink things. This is when he struck her (as seen in the very first image above). Jim Shooter had intended for Hank to “have accidentally struck Jan while throwing his hands up in despair and frustration—making a sort of ‘get away from me’ gesture while not looking at her.” It’s still not right but you have to see there is a bit of a difference. Artist Bob Hall had taken the script and drew it with as much extreme action as he could. By the time Shooter had seen it, there wasn’t time to have it redrawn. Shooter also went on to other projects and didn’t have a chance to finish the story of Hank the way he intended.

I love this news. Ive been waiting for casting news for a long time and I feel like Marvel has made the right choice. My only worry is that he might play Eric O’Grady or Scott Lang. If he doesnt play Hank Pym then that will really dissapoint me.

To be 100% honest, I haven’t seen anything Rudd has been in, nor anything that Wright has done. I’m just glad that they’ve decided to go with Hank Pym, rather than just jumping past him and choosing to focus on Lang. Pym for the win!

Horrible casting choice! He looks nothing like Hank Pym, he is not even blonde! He is really going to have to hit the salon to even have a small chance at pulling this off. It is going to be Wanderlust and Over Her Dead Body all over again, this guy can’t act! Marvel is ruined!

Sarcasm aside, I like Paul Rudd well enough I guess, in that “didnt even know who he was until I checked IMDB” kinda way, should be interesting to see how he does at least.

One thing to keep in mind though, Wright+Rudd*Marvel=Comedy.
Not an action movie with humor mixed in, but a Comedy with some action.

You’re a fool if you think mathematical equations can be worked out by examining only one of the components, especially the one that wasn’t the multiplier.

Also, if I should disagree with your opinion, no matter how much you value your opinion, it only makes me a person with a different opinion. The fool is the person who falsely believes that their opinion is the only correct one.

So? According to the internet, Nathan Fillion is perfect for every single male casting role. I really hope Agents of Shield doesn’t get cancelled lest we have to hear the same b******* about Clark Gregg.

Couldn’t place him initially but he looked familiar, then it suddenly hit me he played in, “Role Models” which I just saw on TV. He’s a good actor and I have no problems with him playing Ant-Man. His comedic qualities will play well against the other Avengers (if he ever makes it to Avenger status)

The thing that confuses me most though is, other than the article saying he’s playing Hank Pym, there is no official snippet stating such. All I’m seeing officially is “Ant-man” and considering how adamant Wright was about using Scott Lang’s story, call me skeptical but hoping it’s true.

I’m also severely disappointed that [if it is indeed Pym] Marvel chose to steal his most iconic claim to Marvel universe fame, leaving him kinda out in the cold. They could have EASILY worked Pym into the Ultron equation in a more proper fashion but left him with being what, a glorified Agent of SHIELD like Black Widow or Hawkeye? /disappointed

Oh yes, the guy who brought us Hot Fuzz and all those other quirky Simon Pegg movies is exactly who should bring Ant-Man to the screen. Don’t get me wrong, love Simon Pegg, but really? Can we expect all the hipstery goodness of Scott Pilgrim as well?

I think Aaron Eckhart would have been a much better choice for Hank Pym, than Paul Rudd. But with Hank Pym being the character that Marvel is going with, I will now go see this film in the theaters. If it would have been Scott Lang, I would have waited for home video.

I SO agree. Christian Bale was a terrible Batman, Henry Cavill was an even worse Superman, Hugo Weaving as V was a bad idea, Morgan Freeman was not good as Lucius Fox, they could have found a much better Alfred than Michael Caine, Liam Neeson was the worst possible choice for Ra’s Al Ghul, Russell Crowe stunk the joint up as Jor-El, Gary Oldman was atrocious as Gordon, Diane Lane was horrible as Ma Kent, Aaron Eckhart was just plain bad as Harvey Dent, Mark Strong was NOT a good Sinestro, Viggo Mortensen sucked as Tom Stall/Joey Cusack, Kevin Costner was incredibly bad as Pa Kent, Antje Traue should never have been cast as Faora-Ul, and MOST OF ALL Heath Ledger was laughable as the Joker!

Or were you basing your opinion on TWO casting choices that you haven’t even gotten to see the actor’s performances yet?

This is an Ant-Man article brother, lets just stick to the subject at hand.